244 ALPINE FLOWERS 



ambrosial colour until the mind can hold no more, and you put 

 your hands over your eyes to shut out the splendour of this new 

 wonder-world. 



Soon comes a sorrowful reaction. Every one says: "You 

 Americans can never reproduce these effects on a large scale. 

 Your summers are too hot and dry. It is the cool, moist summer 

 of England that suits these mountain flowers to perfection." 



I felt, as thousands of Americans before me have felt, that 

 rock gardening was an impossible proposition for us, and I tried 

 to renounce all this beauty, for I was on a practical mission. But 

 each new rock garden caused a fresh pang and fresh dejection until 

 I was ready to quit England in despair. 



One day at Kew I noticed how many of the most beautiful 

 flowers in that famous rocky dell were native to America and the 

 thought came, "If England can grow and love our mountain 

 flowers, why cannot we?" Then I began to ask every gardener, 

 "Which flowers can stand the hottest sunshine on the barest rocks?" 

 and found a goodly number of them. These two classes of plants 

 alone seemed to me enough to justify an American style of rock 

 gardening. 



But the biggest fact of all never came to me until I got back 

 home and had a chance to study our own books and catalogues. 

 Most of the showiest rock-loving flowers are so easy to cultivate that 

 any one can grow them in an ordinary border without any rocks at all! 

 And practically all the difficult kinds which English enthusiasts 

 grow any American can enjoy if he will go to the expense of a really 

 first-class rockery. 



So I say boldly the old pessimistic attitude is dead wrong! 

 Rock gardening will become a great institution here. Our hot, 

 dry summer will not prevent rock gardening, but will give it a 



